$10 thru the wall therms, pics too!

[The Pol]

Um... I dont know what it is called. It was an industrial shelving unit from Lowes... now upgraded with Diamond Plate shelves. It is 18' deep and 36" wide... each section is.

 

[The Pol]

New pic links, old ones are dead...

 

[planenut]

I did this on my two 10 Gallon coolers last week.

Works Great!

Thanks Pol

 

[BrewerBill]

FWIW, I've had good luck with my digital therm w/ the wire lead, (as pictured). I toss the probe in my mash, brew, beef tenderloin, and haven't had any problems. Maybe I just got lucky.

POL, glad to see another Sky God. Love the IND L/O.

 

[The Pol]

EVAN! was looking for the pics, he asked me to put some up as he is planning to do this with his cooler MLT as well. Between this in the MLT, the JC A419 in the HLT and the thermocouple and PID in the BK... I have pretty good temp. reporting across the system.

 

[The Pol]

FWIW, I've had good luck with my digital therm w/ the wire lead, (as pictured). I toss the probe in my mash, brew, beef tenderloin, and haven't had any problems. Maybe I just got lucky.

POL, glad to see another Sky God. Love the IND L/O.

Heh, I would not call myself a Sky God... I am pretty average, I am lucky I have not perished yet

 

[DarkSide]

Would this technique work with my keggle?

 

[The Pol]

Would this technique work with my keggle?

If you are firing it with gas, Id worry about the heat from the burner causing problems with the plastic thermometer. But, the stopper idea should work just fine.

 

[conpewter]

I did this yesterday on my E-keggle. I switched the outlet to the bottom of the keg so I had a 7/8" hole left from where the old dip tube was. Since I don't have another keg in good condition sitting around... I figured it was a good time to put a thermometer in my keggle, to hide the hole..

So I got a #3 stopper and pushed it into the hole (almost goes all the way through but it is tight enough. I have a 1/4" probe thermometer that came off of one of the turkey fryer kits so I drilled a 1/8" hole and pushed the thermometer through (with a bit of keg lube). I think this also helped seal the stopper in the hole due to the outward pressure from the probe. Just lasted through my 2nd test on the rig today.

 

[The Pol]

So cheap, so easy... just like me.

 

[DarkSide]

Hey conpewter, you said it just lasted through your 2nd test. Does that mean it passed and still works? or It lasted but died?

 

[uwjester]

How's the accuracy on those $8 thermometers? I assume I'll want to calibrate, but just how bad should I expect the error to be?

 

[The Pol]

I had (4) that were all within .8F of each other. Now I have a JCA419 in the HLT for the HERMS, so it is really not a big deal.

The accuracy on my therms. was pretty tight. Much better than trying to read a dial thermometer with graduations of 2F.

 

[conpewter]

Hey conpewter, you said it just lasted through your 2nd test. Does that mean it passed and still works? or It lasted but died?

It is still doing fine, I've just been tweaking the system so the stopper has only been used with 1 brew (2nd brew on the system). More tweaks tonight and I may brew again this week or weekend.

 

[michaelm]

I like to check different spots in my mash AND I have destroyed 2 stainless braid manifolds(false bottom now) because I seem to be a heavy handed idiot while stirring my mash so I would DEF knock it out lol.... BUT for my HLT this is just a perfect idea!!! As it sits on the top tier it is a bit of a pain to get up there to check the temps while its heating(120 electric WH element) getting me one of those digital probes and a stopper next im I am out to the HBS...

 

[The Pol]

Interested in a $3.26 sight gauge??

 

[michaelm]

I seen that the other day you ever get the write up done on it?? or did I miss it with the massive amount of posts this site gets a day LOL

 

[The Pol]

I seen that the other day you ever get the write up done on it?? or did I miss it with the massive amount of posts this site gets a day LOL

The write up has been submitted to Brewer's Friend, home brewing resources... it should be up there within the week.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

New pic links, old ones are dead...

Hey Pol, are you still using this thermometer? I bought one and it's not in sync with my others. In fact, none are. 2 were Taylor dial type and 1 is the same as your and one is the same looking, but a different brand.

This is driving me nuts.

 

[mrkristofo]

I'm thinking about this for a thermometer:

Ace - Ace Tree: Home Goods: Kitchen: Cooking Timers & Thermometers: Cooking Thermometers: Taylor® Classic Digital Oven Thermometer (1470N)

Yeah, I just found out that therm was reading 20˚ too high for 3 batches. Definitely explains a lot.

 

[The Pol]

I still use them... they match my JC A419 within one degree, and are within .5F of each other, so I call that good enough.

I dont have one in my HLT now, as it has the JC A419 to monitor the temp, but my MLT DOES have it and it works excellent. It has been working excellent for over a year, and it lives in my garage.

 

[Denny's Evil Concoctions]

Hmm.. Mine seems out by 2 deg Celsius. Boiling point at my elevation is around 98.5c. It was reading 101c - 101.5c

Are these units hit and miss? Or are they more accurate at a certain temp range? Wish these had a way to calibrate.

 

[The Pol]

Yah, I dunno... I dont measure anything in degrees C either. I bought only a few of them, and they all seemed to have worked well, so I really have no comment on how poorly they work

 

[Thumper]

Just wanted to give The Pol a shout of thanks for sharing this. I just did and it works great.

 

[The Pol]

Just wanted to give The Pol a shout of thanks for sharing this. I just did and it works great.

Thanks, I try to keep it simple and EFFECTIVE... some of those weldless gadgets are so complex and dont deliver.

 

[mpschafe]

Those therms with the wire leads, I have had nothing but headaches with. Be sure that the wire stays dry, or it will read 400 degrees in the shade. Mine failed completely in no time, I also read alot of reviews stating the same about those therms. NOW, if you did what I did so that the wire lead stays dry and cool, it may last a long time! Simple solution and easy reading! KISS

:rockin:

Pol

Yeah mine had the same problem. I just purchased two thermometers from Thermoworks. Alton Brown (food channel) uses the thermapen. They got a combo Thermapen/infared for only $69 which is dirt cheap...and the thing is mad crazy accurate. Plus i got a 12'' digital for my mash tun ($39) which is water proof and will work great I think.

Check out Thermoworks.com for some great thermometers. all top notch..specs and all. this is restaurant quality stuff

 

[pennisim]

I did this and my drill kind of jumped during the cut a few times. I used a #5.5 stopper and 1" drill as instructed. Is there a sealant that would be safe to apply? Should I buy a #6 stopper? Sorry for resurrecting a dead thread, btw!

Also: I bought black rubber stoppers off amazons... they dont feel as squishy as my whiter ones. I also was just testing it w/ water, not mash if that matters?
Thanks,
-Matt

 

[triangulum33]

Really want a thermo in my cooler, but dont want to butcher it up like this.
I wonder about rigging something thru the lid...

 

[jxm2119]

I have had the same issue where mine also reads "HI"
A replacement probe is $10 or so. Has anyone considered replacing the probe
with a liquid resistant K type probe ?

K-Type Thermocouple Thermometer Probe Bar for Liquid | eBay

 

[triangulum33]

What about using a probe like the OP suggested, but instead of a big hole w/ plug, how about a small hole just big enough for the probe, then silicone seal around it on the inside?